Post Line-ups Elite League: Australia VIII | Final - The champions of Season VIII are...

[AliB]

What I find equally surprising is how no one has yet picked Fawad Ahmed, not just in this season but also the seasons before. Around this time last year I would have probably rated him ahead of Nathan Lyon, the current leading spinner of the Australian team. Given his domestic stats and how Aussie pitches generally tend to favor legspin to fingerspin, I'm genuinely surprised to see him miss out while the likes of Doherty, Botha etc keep finding their way into team rosters despite having played very little 50-over cricket over the past couple of years.

Formwise, he's also been bowling better than any other Aussie spinner in one-dayers this season.

On my radar already, was hesitant to bring in, but your analysis matters the most as at the end of the day you're the best league manager of what I've seen in my activity on the site (No offence to Aislabie - inactive'ish in league management for the past few months/NMA - worked with him in the PCPL but he can't literally be the one he is inspired from...).

So here we come:
Ashton Agar
Fawad Ahmed

Will look at Steyn a bit and will come with my final verdict.

@Bilal48 Let's have an urgent meeting!

 

[AliB]

Steyn in, Pandya out.

 

[VC the slogger]

Steyn, Johnson, Shami & Boult. That's more like the Queensland we've come to know over the years.

#|Incoming player|Outgoing player|Team|Player Type|Trade Type|Trade Status
1 | Daniel Hughes | Rob Quiney | SYD | Local | FA Trade | Confirmed
2 | Jake Weatherald | Michael Clarke | SYD | Local | Replacement | Confirmed
3 | Adam Zampa | Clint McKay | SYD | Local | FA Trade | Confirmed
4 | Cameron Valente | Jason Floros | SYD | Local | FA Trade | Confirmed
5 | Ashton Turner | Jim Allenby | SYD | Local | FA Trade | Confirmed
6 | Andrew Tye | Brett Lee | SYD | Local | Replacement | Invalid
7 | Ben Stokes | Mohammad Hafeez | SYD | Overseas | FA Trade | Confirmed
8 | Hasan Ali | Trent Boult | SYD | Overseas | FA Trade | Confirmed
9 | Clint McKay | Brett Lee | SYD | Local | Replacement | Confirmed
10 | Rashid Khan | Kyle Abbott | HOB | Overseas | FA Trade | Confirmed
11 | Kumar Sangakkara | Angelo Mathews | HOB | Overseas | FA Trade | Confirmed
12 | Marnus Labuschagne | David Hussey | HOB | Local | Replacement | Confirmed
13 | Joe Mennie | Scott Styris* | HOB | Local | Replacement | Confirmed
14 | Jhye Richardson | Jackson Bird | HOB | Local | FA Trade | Confirmed
15 | Matt Renshaw | James Hopes | MEL | Local | Replacement | Confirmed
16 | Billy Stanlake | Shaun Tait | MEL | Local | Replacement | Confirmed
17 | Solomon Mire* | Xavier Doherty | MEL | Local | FA Trade | Confirmed
18 | Trent Boult | Mustafizur Rahman | QLD | Overseas | FA Trade | Confirmed
19 | Chris Tremain | Scott Boland | MEL | Local | FA Trade | Confirmed
20 | Alex Carey | Ben Dunk | ADC | Local | FA Trade | Confirmed
21 | Sam Hain* | Dean Brownlie* | ADC | Local | FA Trade | Confirmed
22 | Jake Lehmann | Ryan Harris | ADC | Local | Replacement | Confirmed
23 | Jack Wildermuth | Ben Hilfenhaus | ADC | Local | FA Trade | Confirmed
24 | Rob Quiney | Mark Cosgrove | QLD | Local | FA Trade | Confirmed
25 | Mohammed Shami | James Anderson | QLD | Overseas | FA Trade | Confirmed
26 | Hardik Pandya | Shakib Al Hasan | QLD | Overseas | FA Trade | Confirmed
27 | Johan Botha | Daniel Christian | QLD | Local | FA Trade | Confirmed
28 | Shakib Al Hasan | Ravichandran Ashwin | ADC | Overseas | FA Trade | Confirmed
29 | Kurtis Patterson | Ed Cowan | MEL | Local | FA Trade | Confirmed
30 | Babar Azam | Brendon McCullum | WCF | Overseas | FA Trade | Confirmed
31 | Jake Weatherald | Michael Hussey | WCF | Local | Replacement | Invalid
32 | Ed Cowan | Chris Rogers | WCF | Local | FA Trade | Confirmed
33 | Rashid Khan | Jasprit Bumrah | ADC | Overseas | Trade (HOB) | Confirmed
34 | Jasprit Bumrah | Rashid Khan | HOB | Overseas | Trade (ADC) | Confirmed
35 | Peter Forrest | Usman Khawaja | ADC | Local | Trade (HOB) | Confirmed
36 | Usman Khawaja | Peter Forrest | HOB | Local | Trade (ADC) | Confirmed
37 | Peter Forrest | Daniel Christian | ADC | Local | FA Trade | Confirmed
38 | Ben Dunk | Chris Rogers | WCF | Local | FA Trade | Invalid
39 | Samuel Badree | Tim Southee | WCF | Overseas | FA Trade | Confirmed
40 | Chris Gayle | Ross Taylor | QLD | Overseas | FA Trade | Confirmed
41 | Eoin Morgan | Dale Steyn | QLD | Overseas | FA Trade | Confirmed
42 | Nick Kelly* | Johan Botha | QLD | Local | FA Trade | Confirmed
43 | Fawad Ahmed | Ashton Agar | QLD | Local | FA Trade | Confirmed
44 | Dale Steyn | Hardik Pandya | QLD | Overseas | FA Trade | Confirmed
45 | Ben Dunk | Michael Hussey | WCF | Local | Replacement | Confirmed

​

 

[CerealKiller]

@VC the slogger would you recommend taking Agar for Hogg?

 

[VC the slogger]

@VC the slogger would you recommend taking Agar for Hogg?

If you're looking for a spinner who can also bat, I'd recommend Agar. But I still rate Hogg as the better spinner of the two even at the age of 46. He's not played a List-A since 2008, but has consistently outfoxed some of the best batsmen in the various T20 leagues he's played. He can't bat much these days though, seeing as he rarely ever goes higher than No 10/11 in the batting order.

 

[Yash.]

@VC the slogger How do you think about Haddin instead of Nevill

 

[VC the slogger]

@VC the slogger How do you think about Haddin instead of Nevill

Haddin was well past his prime two years ago. I doubt he'd do much better than Nevill, who averaged above 50 and scored three centuries in the Shield last season.

 

[AliB]

I'm confident of our overseas batting and local all rounders and bowlers as well as overseas bowlers but have some doubts with the local crop of batting unit, can you suggest any possible changes to make our batting strong?

 

[Gaurav_7]

I don't think our batting is any issue. Still how will AB for Kohli trade sound for us? I feel the overall balance of our side is pretty good. What do you have to say about our bowling?

 

[VC the slogger]

I'm confident of our overseas batting and local all rounders and bowlers as well as overseas bowlers but have some doubts with the local crop of batting unit, can you suggest any possible changes to make our batting strong?

That's pretty much always been the case with Queensland, but they've still made every final in this league since Season III. I think you've already got some very good batting options in Bancroft, Klinger, Voges and Henriques who have generally punched well above their weight in this league ahead of certain stars of the Australian team. But I can't really think of too many decent locals you could still rope in at this stage apart from these:

Jim Allenby* - A veteran of the county circuit and a very reliable batting all-rounder. He's been averaging more than 50 for Somerset in one-dayers this year.
Dean Brownlie* - Has played 16 ODIs for New Zealand, recording an impressive maiden half-century earlier this year against an Australian bowling attack containing Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins and Faulkner.
Mark Cosgrove - 3 ODIs for Australia more than a decade ago and could have played more frequently if not for his waistline getting in the way of his selection. Has a very impressive FC average of 42 and List-A average of 32, but has been consistently below par over the past 3 years in the one-day format with an average of just 26.70 from 23 matches.
Travis Dean - An aggressive opening batsman who scored a century in each innings of his FC debut a couple of years back. Only started playing List-As this year for his state team and already has a century under his belt. I doubt you'll need him when you've already got Bancroft, Klinger & Quiney in the squad.
Sam Heazlett - 1 ODI cap for Australia earlier this year; averaging 52.57 from 8 List-A matches. Made quite an impression in the BBL last year which led to him being selected for the ODI side.
Ben McDermott - Impressed one and all with a BBL century coming against an attack consisting of Pattinson, Narine and Hogg last year. Yet to set the world alight in state cricket though.
Alex Ross - Has a lacklustre career average of 29.06 after 42 one-day games but his stats don't tell how dominating he can be on his day. Took both Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon to the cleaners during a 50-over match this season.

 

[Aislabie]

One other question... if I brought in Ellyse Perry, how might she do?

 

[VC the slogger]

One other question... if I brought in Ellyse Perry, how might she do?

You can't bring her in unfortunately. She might be the greatest player in women's cricket history, but realistically speaking she would probably be reduced to nothing more than a military medium dibbly dobbler who bowls in the 120s and bats at the tail-end, which frankly is quite unfitting for a player of her reputation. For all her skills with the bat, it's a huge switch for someone facing bowlers who bowl between 110-120 kph to bowlers who can bowl between 135-150 kph. This greatly reduces her chances of success in a league featuring the likes of Starc, Johnson, Hazlewood, Steyn etc in my opinion.

 

[Aislabie]

You can't bring her in unfortunately. She might be the greatest player in women's cricket history, but realistically speaking she would probably be reduced to nothing more than a military medium dibbly dobbler who bowls in the 120s and bats at the tail-end, which frankly is quite unfitting for a player of her reputation. For all her skills with the bat, it's a huge switch for someone facing bowlers who bowl between 110-120 kph to bowlers who can bowl between 135-150 kph. This greatly reduces her chances of success in a league featuring the likes of Starc, Johnson, Hazlewood, Steyn etc in my opinion.

A very sensible approach. I may or may not have been hoping that it'd fill the thread with Ellyse Perry photos, a resource that I believe the world can't actually have too many of. I think I saw somewhere that she'd done decently well in First Grade, but that's still a big step away from the sort of level the ELA would be in real life.

 

[Ohm]

Jackson Bird
Peter Siddle

Cameron Gannon
Gary Putland

Scott Boland
Joel Paris

 

[Yash.]

@VC the slogger Can you tell us whether we need a good batting ar or not? If yes, please suggest a local one.